1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicles, and, more specifically, to generally spherical vehicles incorporating an internal platform with mounted seats and engine, an outside spherical body and an outside wheel for advancing the vehicle forward.
2. Description of the prior art
In the past, various spherical vehicles have been proposed. The earlier versions of such devices can be found in the U.S. Pat. No. 475,130 by Mattison issued in 1892; U.S. Pat. No. 1,625,327 by Moore issued in 1927, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,205 by Marten issued in 1935. They generally describe vehicles employing a rotatable outer wheel and a passenger carrying member which is supported in a nonrotating position on roller bearings. These devices are all mechanically complex and do not incorporate all the features of a typical automobile of the present time, most notably those increasing the passenger safety.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,267,254 by Reilley issued in 1942, describes a spherical vehicle provided with an outer shell, an inner platform revolvably mounted to the outer shell, an internal combustion engine driven wheel drivably communicating with the interior of the outer shell, an operator controlled shifting weight for steering the vehicle while in motion, brake shoes controllably coupled to a brake pedal and positioned to decelerate the shell by contacting the inner surface of the shell, and periscopic means to permit the operator the external vision from within the shell, among other features. The apparatus described in this patent is remarkably complex.
Other examples of spherical vehicles in which the outer body is constantly rotating and traversing the terrain while the inside portion is supported with the proper orientation can be found in the following U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,015 by Cloud; U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,443 by Agullar; U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,117 by Alred; U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,956 by Heberlein; U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,314 by Zimmerman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,787 by Maplethorpe; U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,569 by Clark; U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,446 by Sefton; U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,053 by Yeomans; 4,927,401 by Sonesson; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,410 by Heijman. Complexity and lack of proper safety features is characteristic of these devices.
Modem automobiles in spite of the great variety of safety precautions and devices invented in the recent years are still causing a great deal of injuries and fatalities during acidents and collisions. A significant contributing factor for this phenomenon is the general rectangular shape of the present cars. In case of a collision, the vehicle is forced to stop very rapidly with high levels of braking deceleration. That in turn causes violent shifts inside the vehicle and injuries to its passengers.
Therefore, the need exists for a vehicle with the ability to decrease the braking deceleration in case of an accident thus providing high level of safety and preventing passenger injuries and fatalities.
The general type of a spherical vehicle is capable of providing such an ability with modifications of the present invention.